A Good Sign: Columbia Florist

A family-owned florist on 231st Street in Riverdale, The Bronx, Columbia has been in the neighborhood for decades. The newer awning does nothing for me, but the older sign on top does.

A Good Sign: Cambridge Podiatry Center

Nice blocky letters. Plain and simple, yet it has a style. Like the whole storefront, too, with the yellow brick and venetian blinds.

A Perfect Storefront: Vacuum World

Vacuum stores are as rare as hen's teeth these days. So Vacuum World just tries harder!

You could spend half a day reading all the signage on the facade of this Riverdale shop. I love how they have the logos of every major vacuum maker on the main sign. (I have a Miele myself.) And vacuum-specific neon! Want to know how old the place is? Get ready. 74 years. Founded in 1938, which before the appliances became common sights in every household.

The current owner, for 47 years, is Len Morse, "a long-time, accomplished martial artist with 6 training videos to his credit. This hobby has given him the disipline to manage a successful store that continually exceeds customer expectations through unparalleled service." Wild. 

Classic Skyview Deli in Riverdale Closes

Even as the classic kosher delis of New York have closed one by one, Riverdale has remained a deli haven, the home of no less than three Jewish delis: Liebman's, Loeser's, and Skyview. And not kosher-style, but actually kosher! The real thing. Not a one of them less than fifty years of age.

Now it is the home of two. On a recent visit, I discovered that Skyview had closed. I quizzed three merchants on the ancient strip mall that used to home Skyview and none of them knew exactly when the business had closed. One said a year ago; one said six months ago; one said two months ago. None knew why the family eatery had shuttered.

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A Good Sign: Geshmake Fish

Traditional Gefilte Fish in Riverdale, The Bronx.

Shortest Business Name in New York

Es' Shoe Repair. You expect shoe repair shops to be small. But this one in Riverdale also has a small name. Es? What kinda name is that? First name? Last? Nickname? Short for something?

We'll never know. Because this isn't actually Es' Shoe Repair anymore. As you can see, the "Es" has been half rubbed out. The official name of this hole in the wall is, prosaically, Riverdale Shoe Repair. (Yawn.)

Lost City Asks "Who Goes to Liebman's Kosher Deli"?

This is my second "Who Goes There?" column to penetrate The Bronx. Always eat well up there. Gotta go more often.

Who Goes There? Liebman's Kosher Deli

There aren't many echt Jewish delis left in increasingly suburban-seeming New York City. However, the isolated, strangely bucolic neighborhood of Riverdale in the northwest corner of The Bronx enjoys the wares of three of them, owing to the still-strong Jewish community here. The oldest is Liebman's Deli, born in 1958 and still run by the same family (name of Dekel, not Liebman) that has owned it for thirty years, operating out of a narrow space in the middle of Riverdale's old downtown. 

The business has largely endured thanks to the allegiance of locals. The people who eat there aren't exactly spring chickens. And they've probably enjoyed Liebman's delicious, but highly caloric, chow many times. (More than a few of the hefty guests had trouble hoisting themselves out of the green-hued booths.) But Liebman's also still gets faithful car traffic from people who used to live in the area and still crave the pastrami, which is made and sliced on the premises. Liebman's is also one of the last Jewish delis in town to make round knishes, a knish shape on its way out.

There are a lot of reasons to like Liebman's beyond the food, which is wonderful; I love the Liebman's Favorite, which packs corned beef, pastrami, kishka and perhaps the best french fries in New York, along with gravy, onto one plate. For one, the prices are not at Manhattan levels. The above dish, for instance, costs all of $15; most sandwiches are under $10. And the help is helpful, not Carnegie Deli gruff.

Furthermore, the atmosphere is calm and quiet, which can be a nice change after the rattle and hum of most New York eateries. For those concerned about such things, Liebman's is open on the Jewish sabbath, and therefore not strictly kosher, its name notwithstanding. For areligious foodies, though, that just means more opportunities to nosh.

—Brooks of Sheffield

In Case You Still Get Your Radios Repaired

Stumbled upon this cute little business in Riverdale. It specializes in all the things we supposedly don't do anymore—like get our radios, vaccum cleaners and televisions repaired. On the door are stickers advertising all the brands they are authorized to repair, including good old Hoover.

The Bronx Loses a Bookstore

The Sunday New York Times ran a story reporting that Paperbacks Plus, a book store in Riverdale, was closing its doors after 38 years.

This is sad, of course, but not unusual. Independent book stores have been closing at a rapid clip in New York City for more than a decade. But there was this line in the piece, that Paperbacks Plus was "the only independent general interest bookstore in the Bronx."

Can this be true? In all the neighborhoods of the big old Bronx, this was the one and only indy book store that sold a little bit of everything? That seems very strange.

The shuttering is not involuntary. The owner, the amusingly named Fern Jaffe, decided to pack it in at the age of 75. Can't say as I blame her. But I do feel a bit sorry for the Bronx

An Image From the French Countryside?

No. A house on Sycamore Avenue in Riverdale, The Bronx.

Put it on a postcard, though, and no one would be the wiser.

Wakey, Wakey

Wishing to get away from all the mishegoss of the Pennsylvania primary and the upheaval at the Department of Building, I made tracks today for the idyllic and underappreciated Bronx beauty spot Wave Hill. Which is a hell of a long way to get a little respite.

It was tulip time there, and quite pleasant. The views of the Hudson can't be beat. By the way, the frog pictured is not a statue, though it sure looks like one. It was very real and very still.

A Good Sign: Lee's Chinese Laundry & Cleaners

Lee's Laundry Chinese & Cleaners? Huh? Oh, wait, Lee's Chinese Laundry & Cleaners.

In Riverdale, The Bronx.

Beauty in a Strip Mall

Ur-New Yorkiness can be found in the most unlikely of places, so you have to keep you eyes and mind open. Strip malls would seem to be a product of suburbia and the enemy or urban authenticity. But the Skyview Shopping Mall in Riverdale rebukes that notion.

Why? Well, perhaps because, judging from its appearance, it was built back in the early '60s and was thus an early example of strip-mall architecture, when builders still strove to create something with a modicum of character. But mainly because it is filled with with mom-and-pop businesses that seem to have rented out their spaces the day the mall opened. (The black-and-white photo below testifies that at least two of the shops—the pharmacy and the deli—were indeed part of the mall when it began.)

There is a (kosher) Dunkin' Donuts here, and a Food Emporium. Beyond that, however, there's a pharmacy and a card store that your grandmother could have recognized as what a pharmacy and a card store should look like, exhibiting no advertising or sales techniques that were invented after World War II. Anchoring the mall are three well-established kosher businesses. (Skyview is a kosher wonderland, in fact; fully three-quarters of the stores have rabbinical supervision.) These are Skyview Wine & Spirits, which is renowned for having the best selection of kosher wine in New York City; Gruenenbaum's, a bakery with a small lunch place in the back (it has other locations elsewhere); and Skyview Glatt Kosher Deli, one of the last good real New York Delis left in the city. The last two also boast nifty signs.

The whole mall bristles with character and brassy Gotham integrity. You wouldn't find it anywhere else.